In the past several years, mobile couponing has experienced tremendous growth due, in part, to the increasing prevalence of mobile device usage in everyday life. Mobile couponing provides a technique for offering, delivering and redeeming electronic coupons at retail without conversion to paper. With mobile couponing, a user can capture a coupon on a mobile device from a mobile coupon channel such as a magazine, newspaper, website, mobile web application, mobile application, or other media. To redeem the coupon at retail, the consumer typically presents the captured representation of the coupon, such as a barcode image, to a cashier who scans the image with a barcode reader to redeem the coupon.
As the use of electronic coupons has gained traction, fraudulent use of some coupons has been difficult to curtail. For example, one-time-use static barcodes are intended to be limited to one use per each instance of the barcode, but can often be quickly reproduced and distributed with commonly available tools that are accessible via mobile devices. Electronic distribution of a barcode has the potential to reach a vast number of people (e.g., tens of thousands of people, etc.) almost instantly. Entities related to brands or merchants that offer coupons in the form of one-time-use static barcodes must be vigilant to prevent fraudulent redemptions by unintended holders of the barcodes. Thus, the ability to prevent the fraudulent reuse of electronic coupons presents significant challenges to brands and merchants alike.